


The Light at The End of His Path

by SunshineAndSnark (GoodApollo27)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Afterlife, Ardyn deserves to rest, Episode Ardyn Spoilers, Fluff, Forgiveness, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 09:46:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19060162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodApollo27/pseuds/SunshineAndSnark
Summary: Ardyn dies. And then awakens. Little surprise there. Only, he thought that this would be his last time going through that tired old song and dance. He had been killed by the True King, after all. So where is he?His surroundings begin to look painfully familiar. A long-lost voice calls his name.His journey has finally reached it's end.





	The Light at The End of His Path

**Author's Note:**

> Episode Ardyn destroyed my heart and left me with so many feels. I just want our sweet Trashlord to rest and be happy with his beloved. That's all that I want. So I wrote this to give him his happy ending.

He thought that he was dead. Hoped for it, in all honesty. That finally, it was all over. He had been vanquished by the True King, and now, after that seemingly endless suffering, he could rest. As promised to him by that bastard of a god. 

Ardyn frowned, turning in a half-circle. If that was so, then why was he awake? Why was he standing in the middle of nowhere? Squinting, he looked back over his shoulder. Nothing but light, enveloping everything for as far as he could see. 

This couldn't be right. Where was that sweet oblivion that he had ached for all of these years? It was never going to be easy for him, was it…?

He pulled his hat down and gathered his coat around himself with a grumble. Dead or not, he would rather not suffer the sharp sting of the sunlight. If that's what this light even  _ was _ .

With no other options, he kept walking until, finally, his surroundings came into focus. A field of golden wheat, the stalks stretching onward until they reached the horizon, broken only by the silhouette of a tree in the distance. 

Realization slowed his steps. This wasn't  _ nowhere.  _ Far from it. The field shimmered in drifting waves as the breeze blew past. This place was…  _ very _ familiar to him, haunting his memories and dreams and nightmares alike. 

He stood still, staring ahead at the tree with unease churning through him. It was too quiet. Not just around him, but inside of him, as well. He had just realized it. The dry shushing of the wheat  was no substitute for the daemonic whispers that had kept him company for so long. The background noise to his madness. Now, there was nothing but silence, his head terribly empty. It made him feel very much the same. Empty. Alone. More than he had ever felt while imprisoned in chains or within the walls of a cold lab.

Ardyn shied away, taking a step back. It was too bright, here. Too familiar. It stirred his old memories in a most unwelcome manner. Those memories from another life, so far gone that he often wondered if it had all even happened, or if it was just another lie. 

He turned to walk away, his steps hasty despite his heavy, uneven gait. He didn't want this. He wanted oblivion, the endless sleep after death. That was all that he asked. A simple thing. It  _ was _ simple, wasn't it? ...Wasn't it?

"Ardyn…"

If he had a heartbeat, it surely would have stopped. That voice… 

He clenched his jaw, trudging onward. The layers of thick clothing that shielded him from the light now seemed to weigh at him, threatening to drag him down until he was swallowed by the waving stalks of wheat. 

"Ardyn." 

He shook his head, as if that could dislodge the sound of her voice from his ears. Even after so long, after the nightmares had passed and he had pushed her to the back of his mind, crammed away until she was lost among a clutter of stolen memories… Even after all of this time, her voice could still make his chest  _ ache _ .

"I've been waiting, you know."

He bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut. That familiar trace of scolding in her tone, as if this was another stolen meeting outside of some far away village, and he was late to see her as usual. As if nothing had changed. As if  _ he _ hadn't changed. He didn't turn around to greet her. Instead, he kept walking. Not that he knew where he was going. Just fast, wandering steps in a meaningless direction. If he ignored her, if he didn't turn around, perhaps she would leave him alone.

" _ Ardyn! _ " Her voice, sharp now, brought him to a startled halt. "Where are you going? Are you honestly trying to run from me?"

He stood there for a moment, his posture stiff. Funny, how she could still make him feel like a child who had been caught misbehaving. His shoulders slowly fell. No, there was no escaping her. Perhaps this was hell, and his suffering was only just beginning. The memory of her taunting him after his conversation with Bahamut sprang to the front of his mind, reminding him that this was, in all likelihood, just another cruel trick.

"Are you here to torment me once again?" he muttered, his voice both bitter and weary. Still, he refused to turn. If she truly was there, if this was more than some vision or hallucination, he didn't think that he could bear seeing her. It might very well break him.

He didn't want to see it, the disgust in her eyes. The disappointment. He was far from the man he had been, the man who she had loved. He had fallen far. So far… For the first time in decades, shame flickered to life in him, burning low in his stomach. He hadn't felt it for all of those years, and in an instant, she had summoned it back. He growled under his breath, willing it away. 

A quiet huff, the rustle of fabric. He didn't need to look at her to envision the grumpy pout on her lips, her arms crossed over her chest. "And why would I do that, my dear?"

He winced at the affectionate term. He wasn't her  _ dear _ . Not anymore. He had long ago resigned himself to what he truly was. “Leave me be,” he replied. As much as he tried to make the words into a growl, they only came out a tired sigh. More pleading than threatening.

“Oh, Ardyn… You big fool.”

There was the sound of footsteps, soft among the whispering wheat. Then, a hand on his shoulder, gentle and warm. Comforting. It had been years since anyone had laid a kind hand upon him.

It wasn’t welcome. He whirled on instinct, his teeth bared, fists clenched at his sides. But her hand remained. The snarl faded from his lips as he finally saw her. Glowing with her own light, beautiful and brilliant, her hair and smile woven from the sun's very rays. The sunlight always burned him; he had learned to stay away. But she… From her… He couldn’t. 

“Aera…” Her name was almost a sob, a plea. She shouldn’t be this close, shouldn’t be touching him. He had the faintest little delusion that his mere presence would bring her pain. That he would burn her hand like the sun burned him. 

As if to combat that thought, she smiled and lifted her hand higher to cup his cheek, instead. He couldn’t help but flinch, eyes closing as he fought the dual urge to both brush her away and lean into the touch. He could barely remember when he had last felt something,  _ anything _ as tender. 

It had to be a trick. It was always a trick. As soon as he reached out for her, she would fade. Or Somnus would tear her away. Or he would drive a dagger between her ribs and--

“I missed you.” 

His eyes widened, jaw dropping. He could only stare in disbelief, wanting nothing more than to put distance between them. But the warmth of her hand… It called to some lost, forgotten part of his soul. That tiny flicker of himself that was still so weak and pathetic and ached for comfort, for the smallest scraps of affection. No matter how hard he tried to drown it out, to smother it with his darkness, it refused to die. He wanted to tear away before she pulled that part of him to the surface, but she had him captured. 

“I'm afraid that you have waited in vain, then,” he said, sounding as aloof as he could. A few seconds of seeing her, of talking to her, and she was already breaking down his defenses. “The man that you waited for no longer exists. He found a different path to tread.” He grinned, flashing his teeth. He would have summoned  the Scourge from within him, just to show her how grotesque he had become. But it didn’t heed his call. Where it had once dwelled inside of him, curled up like some sentient creature, there was now only a cold emptiness. 

His little show of drama didn’t faze Aera. She tilted her head, a stubborn glint in her eye. Gods, it ached to behold. He missed it. He had forgotten how much he missed it. 

“And yet, you are not truly lost. One can always find their way back. Lucky for you, I've come to help." She lowered her hand, grabbing at his sleeve with a bright, encouraging smile. "Come, now. You've kept me waiting for long enough.” She gave his arm a tug, but he stood fast, the limb hanging limp in her grasp.

Ardyn shook his head, his lips curling into something caught between a smile and a grimace. The fight was draining from him. He only wanted her to leave. To leave him to his eternity of solitary wandering. “I’ve no place at your side. Not anymore. Do you know what I’ve done? Do you have even the slightest idea?” And there was that guilt, again. Bubbling away in his stomach like soured wine. 

Aera didn’t relinquish her grip. Instead, she lifted her chin, that playfully exasperated aura evaporating. When she spoke, her voice rang out sharp, scolding. “I do know, Ardyn. I promised to watch over your every step, and I did just that. In both life and death.” She squared her shoulders, fixing him with an unwavering gaze. He was much taller than her, but in that moment, she seemed to tower over him. He had once brimmed with power unchecked, but in this moment,  _ she _ exuded a strength beyond his comprehension. 

“You fell to the sickness that you gathered in your heart. You killed and tortured and revelled in your darkness, and I watched every step that you took down that dark path. My heart broke to see you walk it.” Aera paused, closing her eyes for just a moment as she softly shook her head. 

When she opened them, Ardyn saw a puzzling brightness gathered at her lids. Tears? It was baffling, that she could still shed tears for him… After she had witnessed all of his atrocious acts. 

Before he could remark, she continued on, clutching at his wrist with both hands, now. “You possessed so much love. Such compassion for your fellow men.”

Ardyn shook his head with a grim frown, unable to meet her gaze. Not anymore. That part of him had withered away. He wasn’t certain if it could ever grow back amongst such blood-stained soil. “Stop this, Aera…” he murmured. He didn’t want to hear his sins and past virtues spelled out.

She didn’t stop. “You took their suffering upon yourself when they needed you, and you did it without question.” A single tear broke free, sliding down her cheek. She made no move to wipe it away, as if releasing her hold on Ardyn for even a moment would see him running away from her. 

“And when you were in pain, when  _ you _ needed love and compassion, you were left to suffer alone… So many years, without even the tiniest bit of love.” She clutched at his hand, nearly shaking it with the fervor of her words. “I saw it and I  _ ached _ for you. You were pushed to hate, fed with delusions of revenge and I couldn’t be there to protect you from it!”

“Aera, please… Enough...” Ardyn turned his face away. He couldn’t bear it anymore. he couldn’t bear to see her like this, to hear those words thrown at him. They plunged into his heart, points sharpened by truths that he didn’t wish to face. He didn’t need love. He hadn't for a long time. He was fine with solitude. He didn’t need…

“Yes. Enough,” she said with a nod, folding his hand in both of her own, encasing his chilled palm in warmth. She walked closer, bathing him in her glow until all of the shadows were chased from him. The folds of his clothes and the angles of his body. Like standing in the sun. But it didn’t burn. Aera gazed up at him, smiling through the tears.

"Enough suffering. You played your part and now it is over. I am not here to punish you; it is not my place to do so. I only wish to give you the love that you have been denied for so long.” She released his hand but kept her arms stretched loose before her, taking a few steps backwards. Waiting to see if he would follow. “Come. It’s your turn to be healed, Ardyn."

Ardyn swallowed, staring at her light as it retreated, leaving him with his shadows once more. They weighed at him, pulling at his bones until he could no longer bear the ache. For too long, he had carried it. For too long, he had been denied rest. He had been denied  _ her _ . He looked up toward the sky, blinking in the sun. There was no pain. Not in this place. He could be free. Finally, he could be free. The chains of his fate, the loneliness and despair, all of the hatred and the disease that burned through his veins... He would be free of all of it.

He walked toward her, his steps slow and heavy, pulling against  the last traces of who he had become. The sorrows that clung to him, his own personal daemons. He reached for his hat, and cast them both aside. The rage that had accompanied him, guiding his path. He pulled off his boots and left them behind. The darkness that he shrouded himself in. He slipped his coat from his shoulders, letting them both dissolve away in a quiet hiss. The bitterness that he hid behind, chains that kept others out as much as they imprisoned him. He tore away his scarves, the double-layer of vests with their heavy buckles.

He left it all behind. 

He had done it once, casting aside all that he knew of himself and refashioning his own identity. He could do it again. And this time, it would be the last.

His steps were lighter when he returned to Aera, the breeze blowing at the crisp folds of the loose white shirt that he had worn under it all. The tiny sliver of his old self that he had always clung to, the piece of clothing that felt most like what he used to wear when he walked these fields centuries ago. 

Ardyn took Aera’s hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the smooth ridges of her knuckles. Something warm stirred in his chest, rising from a seemingly endless slumber. Something that he thought was dead. Proof, perhaps, that the man who had once felt such things had not truly died, as well.

“I missed you, too, my darling Aera…” he whispered, pulling her into an embrace. And already, it felt like coming home. Like he had been through hell and back, had lived a thousand lives and died a thousand deaths, had strayed for far too long only to come home and find that nothing had changed. To find that he was still welcomed. He tilted his chin down, burying his face into the bright warmth of her hair. Anything to distract from the heat gathering behind his own eyes.

Her laughter wove around them, seeming to ride on the breeze, warm and bearing hints of Spring. “You must be exhausted, my love,” she murmured, nuzzling against his chest with a content smile. “And it seems to me that the cure for your exhaustion is comprised of two things. One of which, is rest.”

Ardyn let out a sobbing laugh, wanting nothing more than to hide in her arms until the threat of tears subsided. “And the other…?” he asked, his voice soft.

Aera merely smiled as she pulled away, resting her hands on his arm and nudging him forward. “You already know the answer to that, my love,” she replied.

They walked together, the light swallowing everything again, as it had when he had first come here. But Aera remained at his side, a solid presence, guiding him. To warmth. To rest. To a place where there was no pain or suffering. A place where they were, at long last, together.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Twitter! username: @and_snark


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